British pubs group JD Wetherspoon plans to raise up to $128 million in its second cash call from investors since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement comes as the government's latest order to close hospitality venues hammers the company's finances. While mass vaccination started across Britain towards the end of 2020, orders to stay at home since Christmas, which followed local curbs in the run-up to the holidays, crushed any hopes of a quick rebound in the sector. Budget-focused Wetherspoons, which said it was burning through about £4.1 million ($5.5m) a week in the lockdown, said it planned to raise between £92.1m and £93.7m in a sale of new shares. It plans to place 8.4 million shares at between £11 and £11.20 apiece, a discount to Tuesday's close of £11.8. The placing is not being underwritten, the company said after markets closed. "The Covid‐19 outbreak is having a severe impact on the UK pub sector," chairman Tim Martin said. "After a number of false starts, the hospitality industry generally anticipates a return to more normal trading patterns in the spring and summer." Mr Martin has been an outspoken critic of the government's handling of the crisis and, like leaders of rivals including Mitchells and Butlers and Marston's, he has called for greater support for the sector. Wetherspoons raised £141m in April last year during Britain's first national lockdown.
